French 1st Army

The French 1st Army was an army of France that existed from the Victorian Era up to the end of World War II.

History
The French 1st Army was formed in France in the 1830s, but it did not take part in any major conflicts until the British invasion of France in the 1840s. They defeated British invading forces, and they did not see any action otherwise. Emperor Napoleon III constructed the army for a new war overseas, the French War of Yucatan. He built up an army of over 22,000 French troops under Robert Boulanger, and shipped them over to Mexico. They fought the Mexican forces and defeated them several times, and they occupied the Yucatan Peninsula before heading inland.

During World War I (1914-1918), the French 1st Army fought in Alsace-Lorraine against Rupprecht of Bavaria's German army at the start of the war, and later fought in the Battle of Passchendaele. They had five commanders in 1917 alone, and the army was disorganized.

In World War II (1939-1945), the French 1st Army assisted the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) against the Germans in the Low Countries. At the Siege of Lille in 1940, they allowed 100,000 more troops to be evacuated from Dunkirk in a holding action against the Germans. On 29 May 1940, the 1st Army ceased to exist as the Germans occupied France. It was re-formed in 1944 after the Liberation of Paris, and they liberated Belfort and the Vosges Mountains. They also cleared the Rhine River of German troops south of Strasbourg and took on the Colmar Pocket, with Jean de Lattre de Tassigny commanding the army. During the 1944-1945 campaigns, 50% of the army were Maghrebis.

1861

 * 3rd Nancy Guard Regiment (French)
 * 4th Nancy Guard Regiment (French)
 * 5th Nancy Guard Regiment (French)
 * 1st Martinique Infantry Regiment (Afro-Antillean)
 * 8th Colmar Infantry Regiment (South German)
 * 9th Colmar Infantry Regiment (South German)